App won't make fans want to leave their seats at Levi's Stadium

The 49ers want to keep filling the seats at their new $1.3 billion home. So the team is giving fans lots of reasons not to leave their seats.

The team will launch an app that delivers food and drinks to fans and provides instant replays of all the action, so the fans don't need to crane their necks to see the Jumbotron. So fans don't miss any snaps, the app will steer them to bathrooms and concessions with the shortest lines and the fastest routes out of parking lots.

It's all a strategy to bring the home-viewing experience to the stadium. The 49ers know they must compete for the attention of fans who could watch from the comfort of their homes, with kitchens, bathrooms and laptops within easy reach.

"I can't put the fridge as close as you have in your home, but if I can get food to you quickly so you don't have to wait in line, then I've sort of matched that experience," 49ers chief operating officer Al Guido said.

The team set up Wi-Fi access points within 10 feet of every seat and installed more than 200 phone-charging stations in the stadium. The 49ers also put together an in-house team of 25 engineers - nearly half the size of the player roster - to design the app because "what we wanted to do had not been done before in the way we wanted to do it," Guido said.

Those developers will tinker with the app throughout the season and potentially add features on top of its current offerings, which include:

-- Instant replays. The two giant screens on each end of the stadium will show replays, as will the 2,200 flat-screen TV monitors mounted elsewhere. Guido knows smartphone-wielding fans demand more.

"Our goal is to get every single replay to you within five to seven seconds," he said.

It worked in tests on a smaller area at Candlestick Park last season "and we're convinced we'll be able to get it done in Levi's," he said.

-- Instant food. Through the app, fans can order food and drinks in two ways, express pick-up or in-seat delivery.

With express pick-up, fans place and pay for orders through the app, which directs them to the nearest express pickup window. There's no fee and it's available at all 28 concessions, but not for frozen yogurt.

With in-seat delivery, concessions workers bring orders to fans, with the app indicating when the order is on its way and how long delivery will take. That service costs an extra $5.

Other teams have used in-seat delivery for selected seats, but the 49ers will make it available for all 68,500 seats.

-- Instant routing. The app offers step-by-step directions to various points in the stadium, including concessions and restrooms.

-- No waiting. The app shows where lines are longest and shortest at restrooms. Green means go, red means try elsewhere, and yellow means take your chances. The app also shows lines at concession stands.

Some football purists might think a smartphone is the last thing they should be watching during a game, but the 49ers see mobile as the future, especially in the Bay Area.

"For us, you can either fight the trend or go along with it and try to use it to enhance the customer experience," Guido said. "The way we look at it, in this area, it's here. It's a mandate. People don't want to go unplugged for six hours."

High-tech features at Levi's Stadium

-- More than 400 miles of data cable installed. That includes 70 miles of cable supporting 1,200 Wi-Fi access points.

-- 40 gigabytes of Internet bandwidth available. The NFL mandates every stadium have 10 gigabytes of bandwidth available by 2015.

-- Two 200-foot-by-48-foot high-definition scoreboards, on the north and south ends, each with 19,000 square feet of display space.

-- Crews will use 10 Sony F55 video cameras to capture in ultra high-definition 4K resolution. Because games aren't being broadcast in 4K yet, the crews are capturing that action for the future.

-- 1,162 Photovoltaic solar panels. Those include panels that cover pedestrian bridges linking the parking lot and the stadium and a canopy above a 27,000-square-foot terrace above the luxury-box section. The stadium is expected to generate as much solar energy as it uses on game days.